General Membership meetings are for all adult, associate and youth squad members.
Prospective members in the squad are also welcome and encouraged to attend.
These meetings are important for transacting squad business, communicating and
clarifying information and meeting new members. We try and keep the meetings short
and focused and not go over items covered in other communication vehicles.
We ask that you carry out your responsibility as an interested member of the
organization and make every effort to attend these meetings.

Board of Directors Elections for 2004
Four (4) Associate member seats on the Board of Directors remain open. We will try and fill the vacancies at the August membership meeting.

Bucket Brigade #2 Scheduled For Sunday 8/22/04
All are invited to the second bucket brigade for 2004, which will be held on:
Sunday, August 22
Time: Rally at HQ at 10:00 am.
Collecting to start at 10:30 AM and end at 12 noon. Lunch will be provided to all who participate. Please help the Corps raise the funds so we can buy new equipment for the new ambulance. Hope to see you there.

Amb-6 Dedication Held On Sunday, August 1, 2004
NYS Senator Frank Padavan, NYS Assemblyman Mark Weprin and NYC Councilman David Weprin participated in dedicating the ambulance and were given Jamaica Estates VAC polo shirts and plaques in appreciation of their financial support of the squad. Also receiving Certificate of Appreciation awards were: US Congressman Gary Ackerman, Former Captains Jim Downey, John Christy and Carlos Varon. Squad Members receiving plaques included Ronald Freed, John Paul Vasquez, Robert Chen, Jennifer Konigsberg, Edward Pearce and Mark Ramos. Queens Village VAC member Melissa Robison was recognized for her assistance at dispatch. Glen Oaks VAC and Certified Ambulance Group were also recognized for their assistance to the Squad.

Starting at around 2:45 PM there was a motorcade through our service area. Representatives from Forest Hills VAC, Glendale VAC, Glen Oaks VAC, Little Neck-Douglaston VAC, Queens Village-Hollis-Bellerose VAC and Park Slope VAC participated. Glen Oaks VAC stopped to do a cardiac call along the route.

Thanks are extended to Jennifer Konigsberg and everyone else who assisted for the many, many hours spent in preparing for and cleaning up after the ceremonies. Thanks are also extended to Ed and Midge Pearce who donated a new oxygen bag for use on AMB-6, and Glen Oaks VAC for loaning us the chairs and tables used at the dedication.

The day’s events went extremely well and the community is well aware that we have a new ambulance.

Duty Officer Rotations
1st Lt. Jeff Balcourt: September and November
2nd Lt. Marty Grillo: August, October and December

Ambulance Maintenance
JAM#4 needed to be taken out of service on July 28 to have both batteries replaced and the right front wheel steering control arm replaced. Drivers are reminded to exercise care in driving the vehicles not to hit curbs and to try to avoid potholes which can bend the steel control arms. Drivers are reminded that it is their responsibility to secure the vehicles at the end of shift with the battery switches turned off and ALL of the windows, doors and cabinets secured and locked. Costly repairs take the vehicles out of service for extended periods of time and cost the squad money needlessly.

Special Events Covered

BRAVO VAC’s 30th anniversary celebration and dedication of two (2) new PL Custom ambulances and motorcade was attended by four squad members on AMB-4.

GLEN OAKS VAC’s dedication of their new headquarters was attended by AMB-4 & AMB-5 plus at least 11 squad members.

Funeral for Bob Stonehill, 1st Lieutenant, Flatlands VAC was attended by AMB-6 and several squad members.

NYC CENTURY BIKE TOUR will be held on Sunday 9/12/04. Emergency Medical Rescue will be coordinating EMS coverage of the event and has requested the help of ambulance squads and individual EMTs. Contact Martin Grillo at (718) 474-0680 or e-mail him at info@emrnyc.com

House Adjacent To JEVAC HQ For Sale
First Choice Realty of Fresh Meadows has listed for sale the bungalow in back of the squad located at 79-36 208 Street. Asking price is $569,000. For additional information on the property go to www.firstchoicerealty.com

David's Hardware Lost Its Lease
Former Treasurer Helen Pancirer is closing her hardware store at Union Turnpike & 212th Street She's marking everything down to 1/2 price. Even if you don’t need to buy anything right now, why not stop in to say hello and wish Helen good luck.

Community Board 11 Gets New District Manager
The new manager for CB-11 starting 8/30/04 will be Susan Seinfeld. Ms. Seinfeld should be familiar with the squad from her time as Director of Constituent Services to Councilman David Weprin as well as former Councilman Sheldon Leffler. The squad never had what could be described as a good relationship with the previous CB-11 District Manager Anne Marie Boranian who seemed more receptive to our neighbors’ feelings that an ambulance should not be on their block.

News About NYC Emergency Service Providers

BRAVO VAC on Sunday 7/11/04 celebrated 30 years of service to the Bay Ridge community and also dedicated two (2) new Ford E450 Custom Medallions ambulances from PL Custom Emergency Vehicles.

FDNY’S new mini fireboat Marine 9A (Alpha) has been placed into service to supplement the response capabilities of Marine 9’s full sized boat, the Fire Fighter. Marine 9A is a 27 foot Boston Whaler with a small pilot house and is capable of speeds up to 40 mph. Its shallow draft enables it to get into areas where Marine 9 with its 9 foot draft cannot go. It has a bow monitor for fires and is also equipped with EMS supplies. Funds for Marine 9A were provided by the Staten Island Borough President.

The city’s newly implemented Citywide Incident Management System (CISM) assigns NYPD command of water search and rescue but also states life safety operations will be initiated by the first arriving resources capable of performing rescue. NYPD in its resources has one similar sized Boston Whaler, Patrol Launch 15, and two faster but smaller Avon inflatables.

FDNY’s Queens Communication Center reconstruction work continues. The center, located in the southeast corner Forest Park Drive South at Woodhaven Boulevard, is one of only three for the entire city. The other borough centers are in the Bronx and Staten Island. It will get new radios, antennas, back-up generators, communication lines and electrical panels before construction is completed in about a year. An FDNY spokesman said in 2003 that the updated communication center will handle both fire and emergency medical dispatches for the borough when it reopens.

New FDNY units being activated

Rescue Company 6 at Ladder 20 on Lafayette Street, Manhattan with a response area from the Battery north to 23 Street, river to river. It is not known if this company will be continued after the Republican Convention ends on 9/2/04. There is chatter that the unit may adopt “Six in the City” as its nickname.

HazMat Company 2

Collapse Rescue Company 1 at Ladder 25 on West 77 Street, Manhattan

Internet chatter is that all rescues will be getting a second apparatus to serve as a collapse rescue unit except Rescue 5 which may keep the hazmat van it already has.

HATZOLAH QUEENS has a newly established web site at www.hatzolahqueens.org. The group operates 7 ambulances from several different stations in the borough and has about 150 volunteers and an $800,000 annual budget. The mailing address is 83-26 Brevoort Street, Kew Gardens, NY 11415.

The Conference on “Jewish Material Claims Against Germany” has awarded grants in the last year to several NYC organizations including:

Rodeph Chesed Volunteer Ambulette Transport, Brooklyn, NY $75,000 toward providing transportation services for Nazi victims.
Since 1951, the Claims Conference - working in partnership with the State of Israel - has negotiated for and distributed payments from Germany, Austria, other governments, and certain industry; recovered unclaimed German Jewish property; and funded programs to assist the neediest Jewish victims of Nazism.

Courses
For a complete listing of upcoming basic and refresher EMT and CFR courses in the city please call the
Regional Emergency Medical Services Council of NYC at (212) 870-2301 or check their web site at www.nycremsco.org.
Information on Red Cross CPR courses is available by calling (800) 514-5103.

GERRITTSEN BEACH VFD in Brooklyn, (718) 332-5859 is offering:
EMT BASIC, 9/21/04 to 3/6/05. Tuesdays 7:00 to 10:30 PM and Sundays, 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM. State test is 3/17/05. Cost $750.00. Members of recognized EMS agencies may be eligible for tuition waiver or tuition reimbursement.

Mark Your Calendars

SOFTBALL GAME & BBQ: East Queens vs. West Queens, Sunday 8/22/04 starting at 12 noon at RGMV Little League Field at Woodhaven Blvd service a block north of Union Turnpike. Contact Mike Wilhelm at (718) 417-6471 or wilhelmm@verizon.net to sign up or for information or for directions. Players should bring their own equipment (bats, gloves, etc.) and teams to supply own refreshments (BBQ, food, soda, etc.).

HAMFEST sponsored by the Long Island Amateur Radio Club, Sunday, September 12, 2004, starting at 9:00 AM at Briarcliff College in Bethpage. Admission $6.00. For more information go to the web site at www.limarc.org.

NEW JERSEY STATE FIRST AID COUNCIL 2004 CONVENTION, Thursday, October 14, 2004 through Sunday, October 17, 2004 at the Nevele Grande Resort & Country Club, Ellenville, NY. For information check the web site at www.njsfac.org

VITAL SIGNS CONFERENCE 2004, Friday 10/29/04 to Sunday 10/31/04 at the Buffalo Convention Center, Buffalo, NY. Sponsored by the NYS DOH Bureau of EMS. Includes general sessions, workshops, exhibits and awards banquet. For information contact Donna Gerard at (518) 402-0996 extension 3 or check the web site at www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/ems/vitalsigns.htm